Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that in the full month since the UK government placed the nation under lockdown, sales cratered amongst a majority of sectors — but there were some bright spots.

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Looking into the full data set from the ONS, you can see what Britons were buying at a greater rate during the lockdown .

Alcohol and tobacco

Photo: Getty

While overall UK retail sales fell by 18.1% in April, alcohol and tobacco sales went up by 2.3%. This followed a 23.9% increase in sales in March.

The ONS pointed out, however, that 13.6% of alcohol and tobacco stores reported having zero turnover — the amount of money a business takes during a particular period.

April data shows the sharpest decline in the volume of textile, clothing and footwear sales since records began in 1988, at -14.5%.

However, Brits have been flocking online to buy clothes.

Clothing stores still reached a record proportion of online sales at 46.4% when compared with 26.6% in March 2020.

Buying food online

Photo: Getty

Overall online sales as a proportion of all retailing reached a record high of 30.7% in April 2020.

For food in particular, more and more Brits flocked to online services. The ONS said that “there was a larger uptake of online spending for food as its proportion of online spending increased from 5.7% to 9.3%.”